Wishes
by midnight1899
Summary: A Peter-Pan inspired newsies fic. What happens when you challenge the fates to try and make you grow up? Challenge accepted. A coming of age story about growing up, taking on responsibility, and the meaning of family. Some elements of religion/spiritual but not too much. Should be suitable for all ages, other than possible character death
1. Chapter 1

Its been a long time since I've written anything. Years since I've written fanfiction. So I'm saying right from the start this will probably be pretty awful and I probably wont finish this. Bet you really want to read it now huh? But I'm going to try really hard. I have bout 5 months before I go back to grad school, 5 months to do what I want. And really appreciate any feedback. Or any message really. Maybe I'm just being nostalgic. All right, I've stalled enough. On with the show.

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Lily walked through Central Park lost in thought. She had often come to the park in her four years at NYU to study, or picnic with friends, or to watch her fellow New Yorkers living their lives. But those days were soon to end. She had graduated last week; finally after four years she had walked across the stage, thrown her cap in the air, and gotten her diploma. The last week had been a whirlwind of family dinners, graduation parties, packing, and tearful goodbyes to so many friends she would try to keep in touch with and acquaintances she might not see until their reunion. In three days Lily would also be moving on, out to Chicago where a job awaited her. Her family had finally returned home and she was taking these last few days to savor the city she had come to love. She had had her last sandwich at the Bowery Diner, had breakfast at her favorite greasy spoon by Union Square and had had more NY pizza in the last two days than shed had since she was a freshman getting drunk every weekend. She had shopped at all her favorite stores and taken pictures of famous buildings and random back alleys, the tourists in Central Square and the marquis on Broadway trying to capture the essence of NY which she knew was an exercise in futility. How can you capture the air of excitement? The hustle and bustle of the city that never sleeps? So now she was walking along the pond in Central Square, not paying any attention to her surroundings just thinking of her life over the last four ears and what the next few years were to bring.

Alone in the park it was easier for Lily to be honest with herself and realize that she didn't feel ready to be leaving college behind and going out into the "real world." There was still so much she wanted to do, she wanted to travel, and be irresponsible, and work as a bartender. Graduating from college, moving on to the next stage in your life is one of those moments where you realize that you might not be quite as grown up as you thought you were. And time has nearly run out to be a child. As she thought these things Lily began to sing a song from Peter Pan under her breath.

_I won't grow up! I wont grown up! I don't even want to try…_

_Never gonna be a man_

_I wont!_

_Like to see somebody try _

_And make me_

_Anyone who wants to try and make me turn into a man catch me if you can!_

With the last words she took a flying leap off the footpath and onto the shore of the pond but before her feet could touch the waters edge her world went black.

"Be careful what you wish for Lily Stern"

Lily understood the words as if the understanding had been planted directly into her, without hearing for she had no ears and no body, and the void had no voice. She began to feel fear but before it had fully bloomed she felt a sense of calm and again she understood what she was supposed to

"don't be frightened, we are going to grant you your wish"

Lily was about to say that she hadn't wished for anything when she felt a light humor, "I guess it wasn't so much of a wish as a challenge, but still you did speak your desire aloud, and you desired it strongly enough that when you jumped elements you were able to cross"

Lily was more confused than before but it is not good for a soul to be in limbo without a body for too long and so the darkness sent her back down to earth with a last whisper "It will all be alright, you should be grateful, not many are granted their wishes"

Lily woke up confused. She did not remember coming home yesterday; she could remember being at the park and then a bizarre dream about being careful what you wished for. Or maybe walking in the park was also a dream the whole day was muddled. She rolled over onto her back and was stretching her arms when someone shrieked above her.

"Oh Samuel, you rolled over! I knew you were advanced for your age"

Lilly's eyes popped open, who was in her room?! But before she could do anything she was swooped up onto a woman's arms and cuddled into her neck. Lilly knew something was seriously wrong. She looked at her hand and stared at the chubby baby's hand that curled and flexed when she wanted. She experimentally kicked her legs and began to panic as her stubby baby toes went no further than the woman's ribcage. She heard an echo from her dream from the night before, be careful what you wish for. She wracked her brain what had she wished for? She was being nostalgic, had she wished for childhood again? The woman was speaking again.

She cooed "oh Samuel, you wait till your papa comes home, He's going to be so proud that his little boy rolled over already, maybe you'll do it again when he comes home?"

and then it hit her, she had been singing that silly song from Peter Pan "_I wont grow up/ Anyone who wants to try and make me turn into a man catch me if you can!"_ Oh God, what had she done? She heard a ghostly echo of a laugh and mentally cursed the fates. She might not have been quite ready to face the real world and be an adult, but that didn't mean she wanted to do her childhood over! The thought of going through middle school and high school again was unbearable. And what about her family? They must be going crazy! Overwhelmed and with no other recourse Lilly began to cry. She wanted to be home, she wanted her body, she wanted her apartment and her family and her life back. The poor woman desperately tried to quiet her juggling the baby up and down, offering her a rag dipped in soup, making silly faces but nothing helped until she brought her to the window to look out over the street. The shock of it stopped Lilly's crying at once. Looking down onto the street teeming with life. There was not a car or neon sign in sight, no neatly paved roads with yellow lines, or sidewalks. No Duane Reads, Lilly wasn't even sure if she was in New York anymore. She could see some horses and carriages but mostly just hundreds of people carrying out their shopping, men in suits and caps, women in dresses and shawls. It looked like a scene out of a dickens novel but Lilly knew it was real and in that moment of shock all she could think was "were not in Kansas anymore"

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AN: Let me know what you think. Is it moving too fast?


	2. Chapter 2

AN: just to let you know, there will be some spiritual/religious aspects to this story, I don't mean to proselytize or anything that's just the background I come from and it was an important aspect of life at the time. Also I might be making comments about minorities/women that I don't believe myself but were commonly held beliefs at the time and I'm trying to make this story somewhat historically accurate. I'm not sure if it will come up but it might and no offense is intended.

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Before Lily had been too preoccupied with the changes to her own body to notice the oddness of her surroundings but after looking out the window and realizing the street below looked nothing like what she was used to she began to look around as best as she could from where she was being held. The home confirmed what she had begun to suspect when she had seen the street; either she had been mysteriously transported to a very good reenactment of the past; or she had actually gone back in time. She wanted another rational alternative, something that made sense, but nothing had made sense since she had stepped off the edge of the duck pond, and she could not deny what her senses were telling her. The windows illuminated a small room with a table and day bed. A smaller table, just big enough for one or two people was pushed up against the window with a basket of fabric and sewing needles. Half-finished shirts sat next to it in a pile and lily realized the women must be a seamstress. She vaguely remembered from history class that before clothes were mass produced by machines they were made in pieces like this, women and children would be paid for every piece they completed and different people would make all the parts and then they would be assembled into a dress or shirt or whatever, but it had been a long time since Lily took a history class and she couldn't be sure if that was accurate, nor when that had been common. The room was well lit by the window but Lily assumed by the candle on the table that electricity had not been invented yet.

The women walked back into the room Lily had woken up in. This appeared to be the main room of the home, lily could tell it served as a bedroom and kitchen by the cot pushed into the corner, the cradle she had woken up in, and the fire that was going in the hearth. It was smaller than the other room, only some light filtered through the high window between the two rooms, but the fire provided plenty of light and made the room uncomfortably hot. The fire was heating a pot of soup and what Lilly recognized as old irons. Based on the books on the shelf and the bits of paper laying around Lily assumed that this was also where the family spent most of their time much as she had hung out and done homework in her own kitchen growing up. She almost began to cry again at that thought of home but pushed the feeling back, she needed to find out more about her surroundings. She looked at the bed and wondered at this new family. The women had said that Lily's, or actually Samuel's, papa would be proud, so apparently there was a husband, and apparently she was a boy. Lily wondered at that for a moment. She wasn't sure she wanted to be a boy; she didn't know how to be a boy and she had liked being a girl. Although she wasn't sure if she would like being a girl in this time, she wasn't sure she knew how to be a girl in this time either. With a mental shrug she pushed it out of her mind, there wasn't anything she could do about it and she would learn. Don't all baby's have to learn to be boys and girls? She had done it before and could do it again. Although she supposed she should start thinking of herself as Samuel. With that thought Samuel returned his interest to the room. He looked with interest at the cot in the corner. Did he have siblings or was that the parents' bed? He couldn't imagine a grown man sleeping in that cot, or a home without a proper bedroom. He wasn't sure if having siblings would be a good thing or not. Lilly hadn't had siblings and he didn't know what to expect. They would give him someone to play with and might help him learn to fit in, but they could also pick on him and would certainly notice if he did something 'weird'. Children often notice more than adults and can be brutally cruel to those who are different.

The women bent down to put Samuel in his cradle. Murmuring to him to stay for a moment while she turned back to the soup and tasted it. Samuel studied her. Her brown hair was tied up close to her head but the front was growing fuzzy in the warm room and he could tell it would be curly, or at least wavy, if it were let down. She was pretty he decided, with a round face, a small nose, and greyish eyes. Her outfit was clearly worn but clean, a long sleeve white shirt with a lace color and a light brown skirt that reached the floor. She added something to the soup and picked him up again. Samuel himself was wearing what seemed to be a nightgown; it was white and reached about to his feet. She walked back into the other room and sat back down to her sewing, placing Samuel on the floor at her feet. Together they passed a couple quiet hours. Samuel amused himself looking around the room He recognized some items like the jacks on the bedside table and the clothed hanging from hooks on the wall, but other things he had no idea about. He wondered how he could get back home and how long it would take Lilly's parents to start wondering if she was okay. He wondered where her body had gone, maybe it was still there by the pond where her soul had jumped out. Eventually he fell back asleep.

He was woken next by a man entering the home. The woman scooped him and went to greet the man. He put his hat on a hook and dropped a bag on the table with a weary sigh before holding his arms out to the woman. She passed Samuel over as he leaned in to give her a small kiss on the cheek. The man grinned down at Samuel and then lifted him into the air above his head with a whoosh. It was like an amusement park ride, the air rushing past him as he was gently tossed into the air. Samuel grinned down at the man as he did it again. The man had dark brown curly hair that ran into a short beard and startling blue eyes that shone through his worn face. He had creases at his eyes and on his forehead either from laughter or worry or both.

"how was my baby boy today?" the man asked in a deep rumbling voice "were you good for your mama?"

"he turned himself onto his back today" the woman responded proudly

"onto his back by himself? Why pretty soon he'll be crawling" the man said with a smile handing Samuel back over "and how was your day?"

"it was good, the baby stayed quiet today so I was able to finish some housework and some of the pieces for Mr. Harrington. I'll have to have Mauve's girl bring them over to him tomorrow"

"that is good news. What's for supper?"

"Soup, come have a seat, the children should be in soon" she said glancing out the window where the sun had gone down.

No sooner had she finished speaking than Samuel heard feet pounding up the steps and some young girls calling good night to each other. A young boy, Samuel guessed he was around eight, his face still having traces of baby fat, walked in holding the hand of a small boy and impatiently held the door for his sister. The older two had the round brown eyes and slightly snubbed nose of their mother. The girl had her father's dark curly hair while the youngest had gotten his bright eyes. It was harder to tell who he would take after since he seemed to be barely more than a toddler. They started walking to the table. When the mother's sharp voice stopped them

"Lev, did you wash?"

"yes mamma, we both did before coming in" he said in the tired voice of a young boy who has heard the same question too many times. The woman grabbed the little girl's arm and inspected her hands. Seemingly satisfied with the children's cleanliness she set out four more bowls of soup and a plate of bread.

Samuel paid attention as they talked and ate their meal. It seemed that the children were all in school. The girl, Ruth, chattered away about her friends in her class. The boy, Lev, said little other than mentioning that he had to practice his letters later that night. He learned that the youngest, Arnold, had just started going to school that year and that he was four and he didn't think it was fair that he had to wait since there was another boy in his class who got to start school already and he was only three! This was said with the righteous indignation of a small child facing an unjust world, and unfair parents. His parents reminded him that at least he got to go to school now and other boys were his age or even older than him. His mother chided him not to wish his childhood away and Samuel mentally agreed, after all you never know who's listening. He gathered that the man, whose name he found out was Henry, worked in some kind of store but he was worried if sales didn't pick up they might fire him. The mother's name was Sarah and she reassured him not to worry, they would make do, she might be able to do some more work now that Samuel was growing older or they could always take on another boarder as they had before. Before long the meal had ended. Sarah got up to do the dishes while Henry packed his pipe and sat with a book by the candle. Lev sat with a piece of paper and took a coal from the bucket by the fire to practice his letters. Sarah put Samuel in his cradle before taking Arnold and Ruth out to the outhouse. They came back and got into the cot in the kitchen. Samuel closed his eyes as the family settled down around him. In the quiet darkness his mind whirled with everything he had seen. He had survived his first day, and he couldn't help but be intrigued. He fell asleep with his mind full of the faces of his family; both this new family he found himself in and Lilly's family, which had been his until this morning, although it felt like it had been much longer than that. He wondered if he would still be here in the morning of if he would wake up as Lilly again, and he wasn't sure which he hoped for.

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What do you guys think?

ConfessionsOfAGeekyFangirl –thanks for being my first (and only so far) review! You made my night

AN: Sorry this is a slow chapter, nothing really happened. But I needed to set the scene and introduce everyone, hopefully your not too bored. Also, this is going up really rough. If anyone wants to pre-read and help me with grammar I'd appreciate it. I'm just trying to get it up before my mojo dies and then I can edit haha.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Sorry this took so long! RL got in the way.

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Samuel dreamed of Lilly's family. In his dreams they were searching for her and her parents were crying. He tried to tell them that he was there but all he could do was wave his baby arms uselessly. He woke up crying. His mother tried to comfort him but it just made him sad for the mother he had lost. He tried to stop wailing though, he felt bad for waking his family up. And eventually he fell back asleep.

The next day went much like the first, the family woke up early, Sarah made breakfast for everyone and packed lunches for Henry to take to work and the kids to take to school. They were all out of the house before the sun had fully risen. She got some water from outside and put it on the fire. She spent most of the day cleaning the house and washing laundry. Then she again began to sew. At one point a small girl came by, maybe about 5 and took a basket of finished work. Sarah chatted with her for a bit and Samuel learned that her name was Mara and she also lived in the building and her mom sewed clothes for the same contractor as Sarah. Mara took the pieces that they sewed over to another tenement down the street where they would be assembled into clothes in a sweatshop in one of the apartments. The women got a few cents for each piece completed and Mara also made a little money as a "runner" Mara said that her mam was feeling tired and Sarah promised to bring over some tea that afternoon.

The days quickly turned into weeks and Samuel fell into a rhythm. He got used to living with the family. Every day they would get up early and go off to school and work. Then there were the quiet hours with Sarah. Sometimes they would join Mara's family in their home and sew and talk with them. Samuel didn't like that so much. Their apartment seemed smaller and darker than theirs, probably because they had more people crammed into the three rooms. Her mom, Sonya, had given birth to twelve children and nine were still living. The youngest had been born only months before and it had been a rough delivery. Sonya was still recovering and couldn't go to work so for now she was doing piecework from home. Mara's older sister Beety had dropped out of school to care for her and the new baby until she felt better so when Sarah joined them the four of them sat around the window angling their work to catch the light. Samuel was left in the cradle with the baby, and Mara often stopped by in between running other women's finished pieces.

In the afternoon the children would come home from school and have a bite to eat before being shoed back outside to play. Ruth adored him and would always play with him for a bit before going outside. When it started to get dark everyone would come home and they would have supper before retiring for bed. It was only at night that Samuel would think of the life he had left behind, and as time went on his memories began to fade, He could not remember exactly what his mother had looked like, or how the streets had looked crowded with cars. It began to feel more like a dream than a memory, like a bedtime story he had been told about someone else. And gradually he was able to forget for long stretches at a time that he had ever been anyone else or known a family other than this one, unless something happened that sparked his memory.

As papa had predicted he was soon crawling and then taking his first tottering steps. As all babies do, he began to babble and then to talk. His first and favorite word was 'no' as he continued to grow into a lovable, if very stubborn, toddler. He had inherited his mothers snub nose but took after his father in every other way with dark curly hair and bright blue eyes. It was generally agreed that Samuel was an exceptionally beautiful child. But when he wanted to do something there was no stopping him and he would throw a fit to get his way. The only one who could even sometimes reason with him when he got stubborn like that was Ruth who continued to dote on him. Their relationship was something special and it always made their parents proud to see the way they cared for another.

When Samuel was about two Sarah became pregnant again and Henry lost his job at the store. Papa had to go work in a sweatshop over on Stanton Street pressing clothes. Springtime was high season for the garment industry since everyone needed new clothes for the warm weather. That meant that papa was leaving even earlier and coming home even later than when he worked at the shop. When he got home he would be so exhausted he sometimes fell asleep at then table. Even still, the money wasn't as good as at the store and when the season ended he'd need to find new work so they took on two boarders to make some money as well. Two young men who worked in the city who were looking for a place to stay came and moved into the front room. They slept on mattresses on the floor while Lev slept on the day bed. Samuel didn't see them much but he liked looking at their things; they had shaving kits and dime novels which he'd never seen before. Although they probably weren't much younger than his papa they seemed so exciting and American.

The summer was hot and sticky. Mo and Ruth passed the long days playing outside but Lev started selling papers. Some nights the boarders would go up to the roof and sleep up there. Lev begged to be allowed to go with them but mama and papa said he wasn't old enough yet. And so time passed. In the fall the children went back to school, although Lev kept selling papers in the afternoons. Papa found a new job working at a candy store where he was happier and the money was better. He came home smelling like cooked sugar and sometimes brought treats home for the kids from the leftover bits. Just after the first snowfall of the year mama gave birth, it was a girl this time and they named her Alice. Alice took over the crib and Samuel moved into the cot with Ruth. Mo moved to sleep in the front room with the rest of the boys.

In the spring Samuel turned three, the age when one stops being a baby and becomes a boy. He was looking forward to his birthday for weeks. Finally he would be old enough to wear the pants and shirts of boyhood, and join his siblings at school and playing outside. He could not wait to leave the house, to go explore the world. The night of his birthday mamma baked him an apple cake. Papa gave him his first kippah, now that he was no longer a baby he would always keep his head covered. It was the first thing he'd had that was all his. His clothes were all handed down from his siblings, and were now being used by Alice, but he would not have to share his kippah with anyone, it was his. He was so proud and excited as papa blessed him and put it on his head, he was a big boy, and tomorrow he would start learning. He went to bed with a grin on his face ready to take on the world.

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Alright, next chapter the fun begins. Thanks for sticking with me!

What do you guys want to see?

Thanks again to ConfessionsOfAGeekyFangirl for reviewing! I know more of you are reading, reviews make my day! I really appreciate any feedback, questions, comments, just let me know you're there


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